Well. I should start off saying that I love all the Mass Effect games. The story and the general theme of unity (not uniformity, like in the Singularity ending) have captured me since the first game. And even though they dropped many role-playing elements in ME2, it was still a great game, with great combat mechanics. They even improved on that in the third game.

99% of Mass Effect 3 was as close to perfect as I've seen in a game since Baldurs Gate (of course, different kind of game, but I'm talking about fun I had with a game-series).

But, to get to the point, the last 15 minutes of the game kind of ruined it for me. From the moment Harbingers beam hits Shepard, it feels like a different story. Every logic seems to have been thrown out of the window. Anderson somehow reached the beam before you, even though the whole ground team has supposedly been obliterated, and he looks rather unharmed, compared to Shepards charred, ruined armor. But I could live with that. But then this AI god-child shows up out of nowhere, tells you, it controlled the Reapers all along, and they were its solution. To prevent synthetics from destroying organic life, it made some super-synthetics to return every 50.000 years to kill all evolved civilizations? After Shepard just united the Geth and the rest of the universe, proving, that synthetics are NOT bound to destroy organic life. Meh.

And Shepard, who has always found a way to deal with hopeless situations, not accepting it, when someone told him/her something is impossible, but finding his/her own way. And now, suddenly, Shepard just nods, not even asking the burning questions about all the holes in the Catalysts story? I don't buy it.

Then you get to choose between the 3 endings. Control, shown by the example of none other than the Illusive Man, in Paragon-Blue? And the Destroy-ending (Shepards goal since meeting Sovereign) is Renegade-Red, shown by Anderson? Oh, and, of course, the Green one. Turning the strenght of all the different races, their differences (which were referenced by Javik, the prothean, as this cycles' greatest strenght), completly away by making EVERY SINGLE being some synthetic-organic hybrid... That one was probably the worst ending for me.

But hey, it gets worse... After that crappy choice, you choose what color the wave that destroys the Mass Relays is, thereby stranding ALL THE FLEETS OF THE GALAXY in the Sol-System, at Earth, practically saying "hey, there you are, not enough resources for everybody and no way to go home". And the Normandy apparently left the battle on Earth, miraculously having the crew members that were with you, when starting toward the beam on board, instead of with Shepard, to flee through a Mass Relay, right before they blow up. Just to strand somewhere in the galaxy. Why would Joker, of all people, abandon the battle? How did my squadmates I took with me to the last push get on the Normandy? I don't know. There is no epilogue or semething of that kind to explain anything. No idea what happened to Garrus, Ashley, or my LI, Liara after defeating the reaper threat (at least that much we know after the "ending").

Well. there you have it. My little rant on the Ending of one of my favorite games ever. I'm curious what other people think about it (since the couple of friends of mine who finished the game were pretty much on the same page with me here...).

I'll grant you that I kind of felt like I should have been allowed to argue with the station guy about the viability of synthetic/organic relations.

I did not realize the blue ending was control and the red was destroy. I suppose I completely misread the cues.

I have to disagree with you on the whole synthesis ending destroying diversity bit though. In the cinematic that played for me, Tali stepped out of the ship as well, and she was...not the same as Joker who was not the same as EDI. So, I'm not really sure where you see the end of diversity.

That bit with the Normandy leaving, yeah that was kind of fail. It would have been nice to have a TOB/Fallout style thing to summarize the outcomes of your acts.

With that said, I still don't think I would classify the ending as terrible. I only took the one that seemed like the best choice, which despite your blathering about rejecting fate is what Shepard has been doing all along. Did you reject reality and find some secret way to save both Ash and Kaiden that I am unaware of? Just because the guy fights hard does not mean he can defy all reality; he still suffers all kinds of limitations. When each npc dies in the pursuit of victory, he does nothing to prevent it. I actually found Mordin's story particularly touching.

Anyway, Shepard was already mostly dead by the time he talked to the station dude, with no armor and a pistol with an unknown number of thermal clip left. With these things he was going to do what exactly to change the course of destiny dictated by an entity that was essentially a deity to entities possessing godlike power of their own?

Also, I did not try the other endings because I felt that they did not fit my Shepard. The control ending did not seem like it would work in the long term, and the destroy ending would have killed the geth, a species he perceived as innocent. So, you know, FU...SION...HOOO!!!

Right. I finally finally FINALLY finished this game, avoiding spoiling the ending for myself (no small feat, I tell you). So I can now talk about it! Yay!

I personally subscribe to the indoctrination theory. Where the blue and green endings mean you gave in to Reaper control and the red ending you fight against it and (if you gathered 5000+ assets) wake up back on Earth where you were knocked unconscious by Harbinger.

Unfortunately, that theory has its own problem. It means the series doesn't have an ending and Bioware are gonna pull a Prince of Persia. Makes me sad to see them fall so far.

Unfortunately, that theory has its own problem. It means the series doesn't have an ending and Bioware are gonna pull a Prince of Persia. Makes me sad to see them fall so far.

Yeah, thats about the only downside of the indoc theory. But then again, I'd rather have a EA-corrupted Bioware that still gives me an ending worth the Mass Effect series than not having to make due with the one we got. Plainly said, I was very disappointed. Lets hope the free DLC will give us our Indoctriantion Theory. If its without additional cost, Bioware would have not only completly redeemed themselves in my eyes, but also they would have pulled the most genius move in gaming history: Indoctrinating players themselves into believing the reaper trick!

But I'm afraid that is too much to hope for. Well, there's nothing but wait and see at this point...

Turns out yes, it was too much to hope for. Extended cut adds some context for some scenes, detail on your choices and that's it. Bioware are apparently claiming that the extended cut doesn't prove or disprove IT.

Thing is, if IT was real, they wouldn't mind proving it since it'd be a more satisfying ending for all involved. So their playing coy about it is them saying 'What? You didn't like it?! But with the Synthesis where Joker and EDI are together on the planet like Adam and Eve. That's so deep and moving and how could you not like- ... Uhh, I mean mayyybe that happened. Mayyybe it was all an illuuuuusion, hmmmmmmmm?'

Oh, and they added a fourth ending. If you shoot the god child in the face the reapers win and the next cycle stops them thanks to Liara's archive thingy. It is now my favourite of the four endings since it requires shooting the god child in the face. And with him representing everything wrong with the last ten minutes of the game, I find that deeply satisfying.

Ah, yes, the Extended Cut. What can I say. Its true, it made things a little better and explained some of the worst problems with the original endings. But thats it. God Child is still there --> I'm not happy. And picking any other ending but destroy. Nah, F*** that! Its the only way a reunion with your LI is still possible, but, for whatever reason never shown, just "hinted", and I tried to kill the reapers for 3 games, and if a big red explosion is the only way to do it... SO BE IT!

Which, ever so elegantly, leads me to the Refusal Ending. Am I the only one who felt it was a slap in the face by Casey Hudson? "Oh, you don't like our Endings? You tried to undermine our ARTISTIC INTEGRITY (AI)? Fine, now everyone dies!"

When I first tried the EC, as always, I followed my tradition of shooting the Catalyst in the face, which of course, triggered the refusal ending. Was I ever surprised, I'll give them that. And using Liaras device was actually the closest thing to an elegant ending of them all.

On a sidenote, I actually kinda liked the scene, where your squadmates are picked up by Joker after injurie. That was a touching moment, saying a final goodbye to Liara and Garrus, before turning around and running towards this god forsaken beam.

Oh well, in the end, the EC made it better than before, but not even close to what could have been, what should have been.

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